Steven Gerrard’s hat-trick today, confirmed what we already knew – that he is firmly part of an all powerful trio of players that form the foundation of our fantasy football lineups.

The “tri-force” or “holy trinity” of Ronaldo, Lampard and Gerrard have consistently dominated the scoring for several seasons as the “goalscoring midfielder” has superseded the need for the big strikers that have previously dominated fantasy season gone by – the Shearers, the Henry’s the Cole’s. The need for that “break the bank” striker is long gone.

This weekend’s profit by Gerard is significant on two fronts – it’s his biggest points haul of the season, in the same week that both Lampard and Ronaldo return blanks. That will doubtless prompt many fantasy managers to examine the merits of keeping faith with the Chelsea and United men.

While jerking knees are hard to restrain, I’m recommending deep breaths and a closer examination of lineups and transfer policies over the weeks to come. The international break could be a gift or a curse in that respect. To my mind, establishing this “Tri-force” of players in a fantasy lineup has to be the priority – turning our backs on just one of the trio could well be just as damaging as missing out on Gerrard’s haul today…

Let’s look at Gerrard first and just remove any doubt as to his value right now. While I opted to omit him from the picks this week, on the basis of Villa a providing an obstacle for Liverpool, I did stress in last weekend’s Scout Notes that with Gerrard playing up with Torres – you need one of the pair for the final run-in. With Torres quiet today and with plenty of consistent budget or mid-price strikers available as an alternative, Gerrard is clearly that player.

With both Ronaldo and Lampard suffering this gameweek – in more ways than one; both will come under scrutiny by their fantasy owners as a route to getting Gerrard in their lineups is examined. Despite the events of this gameweek, I still stand by the potential of Ronaldo and Lampard over the final eight games.

Gerrard’s returns today were massive and he will continue offer strong potential while he plays behind Torres. There’s no reason to think that he won’t continue in that role all season. However, it’s difficult to ignore the influence that Ronaldo has on United’s play, even in defeat.

Take a look at this Guardian chalkboard which compare goal efforts this weekend. Ronaldo has seven attempts to Gerrard’s five and three of Gerrard’s attempts (his goals) were from dead ball situations.

United aren’t in form but will come up against Villa, Sunderland, Portsmouth and Boro defences in the next five games. Those should all provide platforms for a United revival and surely points for Ronaldo, who is still averaging 6.2 Points-per-game and has scored five goals in his last eight league games. That’s an identical goal record to Gerrard, despite the contrast in form between United and Liverpool over the last few weeks.

Lampard’s performance at Spurs and the Chelsea situation in general, is a little more alarming. Lampard still notched five goal attempts at the Lane, which is about average for him game-to-game, but it’s Chelsea’s propensity to struggle for goals of late which is most worrying. Five Chelsea goals in the last seven league games is a startling statistic and that kind of scoring rate is hardly conducive for heavy Lampard profits, despite his undoubted importance to Chelsea going forward.

Like Ronaldo however, Lampard has strong fixtures to come. He will come up against a Newcastle defence ravaged by injuries next, followed by a Bolton defence that never travels well. Can any Lampard owner gamble on a switch for Gerrard with those two fixtures coming next

Let’s not get hysterical about Gerrard’s points today. The profits for Gerrard – two penalties and a direct free-kick, could have easily fallen into the laps of either Ronaldo and Lampard. They all hog those set-plays and in any given week they could profit in the same way. The only real difference is that Fulham and Spurs provided significant barriers that neither United or Chelsea could overcome, whilst Villa were simply rolled over. True enough, the form is with Gerrard and Liverpool but can we really rely on United and Chelsea lacking form over the last eight fixtures?

So where do we go from here? Gerrard looks essential for the season run-in, particularly now that the title promises to go to the wire, or at least the final three to four games. For me, we have to examine the possibilities of freeing up cash in our attack or defence and spending a few transfer points in the process, in order to bring Gerrard in alongside Ronaldo and Lampard.

We have plenty of options. Beattie at Stoke, Cole at West Ham, Davies at Bolton, Bellamy at City and up a bracket the likes of Crouch at Portsmouth – who are all providing excellent value as striking options. These are all players to be considered when it comes to supplying Gerrard funds.

In defence Stoke’s Shawcross highlighted his potential with yesterday’s goal – his third in four league games. While the expensive United defence continues to concede – a look at the forthcoming fixtures reveals alternatives in the mid-price bracket that surely offer opportunities to save funds. Baines at Everton looks more essential with every passing week, the Spurs defence with King now established, looks secure and has good fixtures to come. Man City have three strong home games to come (FUL WBA BLA) in the next five, off the back of another home clean sheet today. These are all options that in my view, are worth exploring before you press that button on Lampard and Ronaldo.

Maybe you’ll need to wait a week or two to bring in the cash to make the Gerrard move but perhaps a trip to the Cottage next gameweek will slow the Liverpool runaway goal train and offer breathing space.

The other consideration of course is that, with international week approaching, injuries could be on the cards. Early transfers as a reaction to an unprofitable gameweek and with Gerrard such a tempting, gleaming treasure, could be costly. Far more costly than the extra bit of cash required when Gerrard earns his inevitable price rise in the next few days.